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Preparing for GS 2 by CM Saikanth Varma AIR 18 2014

Newspapers and various government reports are the most important sources for this paper.
Before I list out the various sources for various topics mentioned in the syllabus, I would like to talk a little bit about how to read the huge bulky reports. Government reports like 2nd ARC, Punchhi and Fourteenth Finance Commission reports are extremely important for the exam. Reading suggestions alone would not suffice because without the context these suggestions will not make any sense. So to appreciate the importance of the suggestions one must understand the context (like the problems in the existing system) and for that the whole report should be studied. But reading each and every line in these reports is not practically possible. So I usually look at the Contents and Headings to identify the topics, which would fit into the exam syllabus and then prepare on these topics.  That way, I was able to finish off these reports rather quickly.
Following is the list of sources that I had studied from.
  • Newspapers – The Hindu and Indian Express
  • Magazines – Frontline (only relevant articles)
  • Indian Polity by Lakshmikanth – to get the basics right
  • Punchhi Commission report – for Centre-State (federalism) issues
  • 2nd ARC Reports:
    • Local Governance – for Local Bodies
    • Social Capital – for NGOs, SHGs, Civil Societies etc.
    • Selected readings from Personnel Administration and E-Governance.
  • Fourteenth Finance Commission – This is extremely important as it came only this year.
  • Representation of People’s Act – relevant provisions that appeared in Newspapers like the Supreme Court judgments.
  • Comparison of Indian Constitution with others – I have prepared this only for few countries from internet like UK, USA and Japan in great depth. I also covered the ‘borrowed’ features of Indian Constitution from Lakshmikanth itself.
  • International Relations:
    • Newspapers, especially C. Raja Mohan’s column in Indian Express
    • Frontline (extremely good for International Relations)
    • idsa.in website (selected articles)
    • Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) website
    • Wikipedia for the mandate and objectives of various bodies and organisations
    • ( Originally Posted at Sykobanerises )

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